ST. LOUIS – Drake freshman Lizzy Wendell (Blue Springs, Mo.) has been selected the Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Newcomer of the Week for a league-leading eighth time this season, the league office announced today.

Wendell averaged 22.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 1.5 assists in helping Drake go 1-1 in the final week of the regular season. She dropped in a game-high 28 points along with four rebounds, four steals and two assists in a two-point loss to Indiana State last Thursday. She followed that performance with 17 points, three rebounds and two blocks in the win over Illinois State on Wednesday.

Wendell set a new MVC single season scoring mark for a Drake freshman as she currently has 468 points in her debut season. She is just the 10th Valley freshman to score 400 or more points in their first season. If Wendell can score 500-plus points this year it will be first time a Bulldog freshman eclipses the 500 mark since Kay Riek accomplished the feat in 1980-81 with 517 points. She is second on the team and fifth in the conference in scoring average at 16.1 points per game.

In her first campaign, Wendell has been named MVC Newcomer of the Week on Nov. 11, Dec. 2, Dec. 31, Feb. 3, Feb. 10, Feb. 24 and March 3. Jill Martin and Whitney Pegram shared the previous Drake record for most newcomer awards with three each during the 2003-04 season.

No. 5 seed Drake takes on fourth-seeded Evansville on Friday, March 14, at 2:37 p.m. in its first game at the MVC Women’s Basketball Tournament in St. Charles, Mo.